Drive-in pallet rack



Jan. 17, 1961 Filed March 14, 1956 J. JURECHKO 2,968,409

DRIVE-IN PALLET RACK 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. 1

IN VEN TOR.

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A TTORNEYS Jan. 17, 1961 J. JURECHKO DRIVE-IN PALLET RACK Filed March14, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Jab/2 Jurechh'a,

ATTORNEYS Jan. 17, 1961 J. JURECHKO DRIVE-IN PALLET RACK 5 Sheets-Sheet3 7 Filed March 14, 1956 0 R ma M R MW/Qm 1h M Maw J J. JURECHKODRIVE-IN PALLET RACK Jan. 17, 1961 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed March; 14,1956 INVENTOR. Ja/m Ju re 6/7/20, BY Q20, 4 q M Uh. fi i mm A TTORNEYS 1J. JURECHKO DRIVE-IN PALLET RACK Jan. 17, 1961 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 FiledMarch 14, 1956 a NUNN IN VEN TOR. Jo/m Jurecfi/ia,

, ATTORNEYS DRIVE-IN PALLET RACK John Jurechko, 12 Sycamore Road,Levittown, Pa. Filed Mar. 14, 1956, Ser. No. 571,553

6 Claims. (Cl. 211-134) This invention relates to shelving structure andmore particularly the shelf racks used in warehouses for pallet loading.Since the advent of the fork-lift truck and similar industrial plantmaterial moving vehicles, it has been necessary to devise shelvingstructures especially adapted for pallet loading. Such shelving must ofnecessity provide adquate means of access for the material movingvehicle, thus eliminating certain structural members formerly present inshelving. However, by simply removing structural members from a shelfstructure, the entire structure may be weakened beyond the point ofusefulness. It is the present practice in the warehousing industry toprovide double rows of shelves of rigid construction with adjacentaisles for loading access. As a consequence, a large portion of presentday warehouse floor space is wasted as aisle space.

It is therefore a primary purpose of this invention to provide warehouseor industrial plant shelving structures which may be used for multipledepth pallet loading and which are sufiiciently strong to sustain normalloads without attachment to the building structure.

It is another object of this invention to provide warehouse orindustrial plant shelving which utilizes a larger proportion of floorspace as storage space rather than aisle space than has been providedheretofore.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a warehouse shelvingstructure which will eliminate or substantially reduce the amount ofaisle space required.

It is another object of this invention to provide a method ofwarehousing whereby substantially all available floor space is utilizedfor storing goods with a minimum of necessary aisle space.

'It is also an object of this invention to provide a shelving structurewhich may be easily erected and modified in form.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a pallet rack made upof a minimum number of structural members but which has sufficientstructural rigidity to withstand normal warehuose and industrialloadings.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description and the drawings of which:

Fig. l is a perspective view partially in section showing a pallet rackmade in accordance with the invention and showing pallet loads in placeand others being put in place;

Fig. 2 is a plan View of the pallet rack shown in Fig. 1 with the palletloads shown in dot-dash;

Fig. 3 is a front view of the pallet rack shown in Fig. 1 with thepallet loads shown in dot-dash;

Fig. 4 is a side view of the pallet rack of Fig. I viewed from the rightside and showing the pallets in dot'dash;

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram in plan viewof a section of warehousefloor set up in accordance with known methods;

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram in plan view of a section Fnited StatesPatent of this invention for comparison with the known methods of Fig.5;

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram in plan view of a section of warehousefloor set up in accordance with known methods; and

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram in plan view of a sec tion of warehousefloor set up in accordance with the methods of this invention forcomparison with the known methods of Fig. 7.

The objects of the invention are accomplished by dividing the warehousefloor space into a plurality of parallel aisle areas and utilizing theseaisles as storage space. Present methods and structures provide rigidstorage shelves or racks which are, at the most, two pallets deep andare accessible from at least two sides. This requires aisle space on twosides of a rack for access to only a depth of two pallets. By means ofthis invention the pallets are stored in open aisles to an unlimiteddepth. Since the pallets are stored in the aisles themselves, there isno need for additional access aisles. The invention provides open-endedshelving structures which define aisles through which fork-lift trucksor the like can travel.

The specific embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings is madeup of standard structural shapes which are connected by bolts, rivets orwelds. Fig. 1 shows one single unit of shelving structure made according to the invention. The form of this unit may be repeated from eitherside thereof to form additional shelving or upward to provide additionallayers of pallets.

The vertical structural members of the pallet rack include verticalbeams 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17. Viewed from the front of thepallet rack, the left side, which is in the foreground of Fig. 1,includes the vertical beams 10, 11, 12 and 13. Each of these beams,which are shown as I-beams or channels, is welded at the bottom to thebase beam 20. The base beam 20 is afiixed at the rear to the rear runner22 which may or may not be bolted or otherwise afiixed to thefioor toanchor the pallet rack. Moving vertically, the vertical beam 10 isbolted to the rear runners 23 and 24, and the vertical beam 11 issimilarly affixed to the front runners 25 and 26. The front and rearrunners span the left and right sides of the pallet rack and providestructural form and rigidity to the entire structure. On the right side,which is in the background of Fig. 1 and shown in Fig. 4, the rearrunners 22, 23 and 24 are aflixed to the vertical beam 14 and the frontrunners 25 and 26 and are bolted to the vertical beam 15. As shown inFigs. 1 and 4, the rearward bottom pallet load 30 rests on the floorwhile load 31 rests upon front and rear runners 25 and 23, respectively,and the uppermost load 32 rests upon front and rear runners 26 and 24,respectively. Additional structural support is provided by the spacedpairs of angle beams 33 and 34, spaced above and parallel to beam 20,and 35 and 36 spaced above and parallel to beam 21. Each of these pairsof angle beams is bolted to the front and rear runners 23, 24, 25 and 26and to of Warehouse floor set up in accordance with the methods thefront shelving structure as will be heerinafter more fully shown. Itwill be noted that the channel beam 21 is similar to beam 20 and that inall other respects the right and left sides of the pallet rack shown inFig. 1 are identical.

The forward shelving structure is specifically designed to provideaccess to the rearward shelves as shown in Fig. 1. There are four suchshelves shown in the drawings: 40 and 41 on the left side and 42 and 43on the right side. Since these shelves are identical in form, it willserve to describe one of them in detail, it being understood that thesame description applies to each of the others. The shelf 43 issupported by a pair of angle beams 36. At the rear the fiat plates 50and 51 are bolted to the front runner 26. These are in turn respectivelywelded to the angle shelf beams 52 and 53. The angle beams 52 and 53extend forward and are welded to the angle brackets 54 and 55. The anglebrackets 54 and 55 are in turn bolted to the. parallel angl beams 36 andare bolted to the vertical beams 16 and 17, respectively. The shelf thusformed extends transversely in two directions from the vertical beams,forming the side of the pallet rack unit. The shelf41 is paired withshelf 43 to form a U-shaped structure opened at one end to accommodatepallet loads. The flanges 56 and 57 form the actual load supportstructure and at the same time are spaced sufliciently to permit accessby a load carrying vehicle. The structure of shelf 41 is similar in allrespects to shelf 43. which has been described in detail. In the case,of shelf 41 angle brackets 54a and 55a correspond to angle brackets 54and 55 of shelf 43. The outboard flanges shown in Fig. 2, 54a of 41 and57b of 43 correspond to flanges 56 and 57 respectively.

It will be understood that flanges 56a and 57b form self-supportingshelves when combined with additional similar structures not shown.

In describing the drive-in pallet rack made according to the invention,the term open is used to describe the type of shelving formed by theforwardly projecting shelves 41 and 43, shown in Fig. 2. The term opendenotes the character of the shelf formed thereby which is not closed atthe front. In contrast to this, the rear shelves, also shown in Fig. 2,are partially enclosed in that they are partially closed in bystructural members on all four sides.

It has been found that pallet racks made in accordance with theforegoing description may be easily assembled and that the shelves willsustain any warehouse or industrial load without warping or twisting ofany of the members. This is believed to be made possible by the highlyintegrated shelf structure typified by shelf 43 and in combination withthe remaining members. The modified form of cantilever from the frame 17is extremely rigid in view of the fact that it is tied into all of theprincipal structural members of the pallet rack running in threedirections. It will be appreciated that under full load conditions, whenloads are carried by both sides of the shelf 43, the torsion stressabout the shelf 43 will be greatly reduced if not eliminated and theloading will be reduced to simple column loading on the vertical beams15, 16, and 17 with cantilever loading on the pairs of angle beams 36.

Fig. of the drawings shows a warehouse floor plan using known methodsand structures. The pallet racks 60, 61 and 62 are centrally spaced onthe floor. In the example shown, the racks are eight pallets long andtwo pallets deep. Since the racks 60, 61 and 62 are rigid structures,the fork-lift trucks can only reach the pallets directly at the openpart of the shelf, and it is there fore necessary to provide aisle spacealong both sides of the racks. For example, in the case of rack 60 thepallets on the side nearest aisle 64 are only accessible from aisle 64,and it is necessary to provide aisle 65 to reach the pallets on thatside. The same is true of racks 61 and 62. As shown in Fig. 5, the threeracks, 60, 61 and 62, each eight pallets long and two pallets deep,contain forty-eight pallets on one vertical level. The same forty-eightpallets are shown in Fig. 6 stored in accordance with the invention.There the pallets are stored in the rigid shelves 66 and in the aislesformed by the forwardly extending shelving structures 67. It will beapparent that two of the aisles of Fig. 5 have been eliminated by virtueof the invention. Even greater storing efiiciency may be achieved instoring the fortyeight pallets of Fig. 6, in the manner illustrated inFig. 8 by extending the forwardly extending structures 67 back to thewall so that each aisle holds six pallets. This would eliminate the backaisle 68.

In Figs. 7 and 8, comparison is made between the old methods andstructures of Fig. 7 and the methods and structures of the inventionshown in Fig. 8 on the basis of a fixed amount of floor space. In Fig.8, twenty pallets are stored in the same space required for eightpallets in Fig. 7. The essential difference is in the elimination ofaisle space formerly needed for access to the palletswith old methodsand structures.

Considerable variation may be made in the pallet racksshown in thedrawings to achieve a number of particular desired purposes. The racksmay be extended upward for a number of shelves to utilize overheadspace. The lower shelves 40, and 42 may be eliminated so that no palletstacking takes place below the level of the shelves 41 and 43. Thus, theshelves 41 and 43 clear any forklift truck which may be used, and theoverhead shelves may be used for permanent storage. Where the shelvesare extended in a vertical direction above the reaching level offork-lift. trucks, the shelves may be tied together at the top, thusproviding greater structural rigidity.

The, methods and structures of the invention are par-- ticularly adaptedto refrigeration storage and storage of bulky seasonal goods that arefragile and require separate shelving. It will be noted that the palletracks of the invention may be. completely installed without breakinginto thefloors or walls of the warehouse. In refrigerated storerooms itis particularly undesirable to break through the floors or wallsurfaces.

The invention is used to greatest advantage when the storage shelves areextremely long. The longer the shelf, the greater the amount of spaceavailable for storage rather than aisle space. It is thus possible toutilize a storeroom completely for storage with the sole exception ofone entering aisle. As has been indicated, the term shelf or shelves isused herein to designate the spaced pallet supporting portions of thepallet rack and is not necessarily intended to designate a structuralshelf which in itself would support a pallet.

As I have pointed out, it is an object of this invention to provide amultiple depth storage rack for multiple depth pallet loading. Themultiple depth loading is structurally significant in that, asillustrated in Figures 1 and 2, it is possible with this invention toload more than one depth of pallets within the forwardly projected wallsof the pallet rack. The forwardly projecting walls thus extend outwardlyto accommodate more than one depth of pallet loading.

It will be apparent that many variations may be made in the specificembodiment of the invention which has been described without departingfrom the spirit of the invention as defined by the following claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A drive-in pallet rack comprising a partially enclosed shelvingstructure formed of rigidly connected structural members, a forwardlyextending structural frame rigidly attached at its rear to saidpartially enclosed shelving structure and substantially horizontalflanged shelf means rigidly attached to said frame and rigidly attachedat the rear thereof to said partially enclosed shelving structure, saidstructural frame having a base portion, the edge of said flanged shelfmeans being spaced horizontally from said frame, said base portionunderlying the other portions of the frame and being disposed within thelimits thereof.

2. The drive-in pallet rack of claim 1 further characterized by the factthat there is a plurality of said shelf means attached to said framedisposed at dilferent vertical levels thereon.

3. The drive-in pallet rack of claim 1 further characterized by the factthat said forwardly extending frame comprises an inverted channel beamat the floor level, a plurality of spaced vertically extending beamsattached to said channel beam and a plurality of forwardly extendingspaced parallel angle beams integrally attached to said vertical beams.

4, The .drive-in pallet rack of claim 1 further characterized by thefact that said shelf means comprises a pair of forwardly extendingparallel spaced angle beams, said angle beams being connected bytransversely disposed angle beams which are rigidly attached to saidstructural frame, each of said forwardly extending angle beams havingone flange disposed substantially at right angles to said structuralframe.

5. A multiple depth pallet storage rack having transverse rear shelvesand forward shelves open from the front and top projecting forwardlyfrom said rear shelves, said forward shelves comprising a plurality ofvertically spaced, substantially parallel forwardly projecting beams,

a plurality of transversely spaced substantially parallel vertical beamsrigidly attached to said forwardly projecting beams, a plurality oftransversely extending substantially parallel forwardly spaced beamsrigidly connected to said vertical beams, forwardly extendingsubstantially horizontal flanged beams disposed upon said forwardlyspaced beams, the flanges of said flanged beams forming laterallyprojecting shelves on said forwardly extending flanged beams forsupporting pallets in multiple depth.

6. A drive-in pallet rack comprising a U-shaped structure formed ofrigidly connected structural beams, the legs of said U-shaped structureforming an open aisle, the bottom of said U-shaped structure comprisinga plurality of shelf compartments and substantially horizontal shelfmeans disposed along each of the legs of said U- shaped structure, saidshelf means having spaced sub stantially parallel flanges forming openshelves, the shelves thus formed extending horizontally from the legs ofsaid U-shaped structure, said shelf means comprising short angle beamsdisposed transversely upon the legs of said U-shaped structure andspaced parallel angle beams rigidly attached to the ends of said shortangle beams and having laterally projected flanges extendingsubstantially parallel to said legs.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,344,617 Burgess June 29, 1920 1,522,600 Strickland Jan. 13, 19251,620,841 Vance Mar. 15, 1927 1,708,588 Proctor Apr. 9, 1929 1,791,336Warshaw Feb. 3, 1931 1,921,222 De Lamar Aug. 8, 1933 2,096,958 ClercOct. 26, 1937 2,182,681 Seibel Dec. 5, 1939 2,345,650 Attwoo-d Apr. 4,1944 2,635,762 Shaw Apr. 21, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 697,641 Great BritainSept. 30, 1953

